Welcome

If you’ll forgive a slightly clumsy neologism, we’re

THE WORLD OF WRITING

Made-up words old and new, mansions in the sky and libraries of your dreams, making sense of poetry and nonsense of it all. It’s a contrary old wide world of writing, as Derek Hudson discovers

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We want to hear your news and views on the writing world, your advice for fellow writers – and don’t forget to tell us what you would like to see featured in a future issue…

BEHIND THE TAPE

Novelist and serving police officer Lisa Cutts helps a reader establish a likely legal process

Editorial calendar

Strong forward planning will greatly improve your chances with freelance submissions. Here are some themes to consider for the coming months.

WRITERSʼ WEB WATCH

WM’s resident webcrawler helps you keep your writing notes in order

Helpline

Your writing problems solved with advice from Diana Cambridge

A persuasive look

Patrick Forsyth reviews an often forgotten aspect of pitching by email

POWER UP

PC trainer Greta Powell looks at using PowerPoint as an effective presentation tool for your book

Fiction and lies

Even in fiction, writers need to be wary of libel, warns Michael Allen

From the OHERSIDE OF THE DESK

Agent Piers Blofeld wonders why hopeful writers don’t favour non-fiction

Away from your desk

Get out of your garret for some upcoming activities and places to visit

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE MAD…

Writers need to keep their heads in the clouds but their feet on the ground. Learn how professionals balance delusion and pragmatism, imagination and reality, with Steven Chapman

AGENCY DISAPPROVAL

What do you do when an agent wants to take you on… once you’ve heavily rewritten your book? Jane Wenham-Jones advises a reader

Novel Ideas

How do you ensure you’re never surprised without notebook and pen? Lynne Hackles suggests some kit

EXIT STAGE LEFT

Adaptable she may be, but Lorraine Mace isn’t going to be adapting again any time soon.

Make ‘em laugh, Make ‘em CRY

Keep your readers on the emotional hook with advice from Patricia McBride

Make it Real

How do you immerse readers in your fiction? Psychological drama author Suellen Dainty shows how she gets under readers’ skin in her new novel The Housekeeper

THE GLORIOUS HERETIC

Bailey’s Prize winner Lisa McInerney talks creativity, class divides and ‘misfit’ characters with Tina Jackson

TRUE GRIT

Readers always come back to gritty reality, but that need not always mean confrontational detail. Gary Dalkin weighs up the options and encourages you to play with reality

WIN

A Jane Austen-themed short stay at the 4-star Holiday Inn Winchester!

On writing

Tony Rossiter explores great words from great writers

How I got published

Colette Dartford describes the hard work that led to a two-book deal

LEN DEIGHTON

With a new audience revelling in the BBC adaptation of SS-GB, Tony Rossiter looks at the work of an author who created a new type of spy

Shelf life: VASEEM KHAN

Baby Ganesh Agency creator Vaseem Khan shares his five favourite reads with Judith Spelman

Under the microscope

Author and lecturer James McCreet puts a reader’s first 300 words through a forensic micro-critique

Time for a SEX CHANGE?

Don’t be put off writing viewpoint characters of the opposite gender. Let Margaret James help you achive a fictional sex change

SUBSCRIBER SPOTLIGHT

Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe

CIRCLES’ ROUNDUP

If your writing group would like to feature here, whether

CRIME FILE

True crime author Carol Anne Davis explores the dark side of human nature with Chris High

LOUISE JENSEN

A forced change of pace set Louise Jensen on the writing road, she tells Margaret James

STEWART ROSS

A prolific author, predominantly of children’s non-fiction, Stewart Ross explains how he fits it all in, to Lynne Hackles

ASK A LITERARY CONSULTANT

Literary consultant Helen Corner-Bryant advises a new writer to map out her ideas to find the story she really wants to write

FROM FACT To fiction

Be inspired by everything around you, with ideas for turning real life into workable plots, from Lynne Hackles

Avoid the UNLIKELY

Timeless advice on short story submissions from Adrian Magson

Pro prose

Explore some advanced ‘microediting’ techniques with practical examples from author and lecturer James McCreet as he revisits his novel-in-progress

WELCOME TO MY WORLD

Helen M Walters explores an F Scott Fitzgerald classic to illustrate how to engage readers and evoke a time and place

A Series of INTERESTING EVENTS Part 2

Amy Sparkes investigates how to write a ‘closed’ series for children

Queer as folk

Supernatural stories rooted in local lore get right under your audience’s skin, says Alex Davis

Red Editing Pen

Each month, we give you a few sentences which would all benefit from some careful use of your red editing pen. As writers, and regular readers of Writing Magazine, you should not find any of these too difficult. But if you would welcome a little help, you can always check out Richard Bell’s suggested solutions below.

WIN! £500 IN CASH PRIZES & PUBLICATION

Think that crime doesn’t pay? It could if you win this

Not a Drill

Dave woke abruptly to the braying of the general alarm

BOTTLE IT

How do you maintain the enthusiasm fired up at your writing group between meetings? Julie Phillips has some suggestions

WIN!

£250 IN CASH PRIZES & PUBLICATION

My Life So Far

Terry Baldock lives in Droitwich Spa and has retired

SCORCHING POEMS

Judge Alison Chisholm highlights the poems that sparked her interest

Within the gallery

It’s more common to write poems about works of art than the gallery that houses them, but Alison Chisholm is impressed by this attempt

Poetry in practice

Poets should create images, not spell things out, says Doris Corti

Poetry from A to Z

Poet Alison Chisholm guides you through the language of poetry

GET ON COURSE

Do you have expertise you could share with others by writing online courses? Simon Whaley talks to two writers who’ve entered this writing market.

CURRENT AWARENESS TOOLS

With the right tools, valuable information and new developments will come to you, says Tarja Moles

Agents for information

Patrick Forsyth experiences more than he bargained for at a travel agent.

Reflect on that landscape

Your essential monthly round-up of competitions, paying markets, opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news.

Exit earth, enter storgy

Exit Earth is the STORGY Magazine short story competition

A new twist on fairy tales

The National Literacy Trust and Bloomsbury have joined

Long-sighted new work

Eyewear Publishing has launched the 2017 Lorgnette

GLOBAL CRIME MARKET

Digital crime on rise

New comp for newbies

The Michael Terence Publishing Short Story Competition

Win a Virago contract and £7,500 advance

The Virago/The Pool New Crime Writer Award is inviting

Get creative for Cymru

The 2017 Welsh Poetry Competition, which launched on

FLASHES

Scottish Caravans & Motorhomes is a new quarterly

GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET

Funny green men

Get lucky for Ledbury

The Ledbury Poetry Festival is inviting entries for

Lift the lid on lit

Bottlecap is a new small press, ‘dedicated to authors’

UK MAGAZINE MARKET

A blooming great read

It’s a Funny Old World

Literature in the raw had added a cheeky dimension

FLASHES

Jaguar Enthusiast monthly magazine is published by

GLOBAL MAGAZINE MARKET

New home for non-fiction

Free monthly comp with prizes

The monthly free-to-enter Spinetinglers short story

Give Londnr the lowdown

Londnr magazine has teamed up with Spread the Word

Find poems for Firsts

Wirral Festival of Firsts is inviting entries for its

UK THRILLER MARKET

A sticky end

Trad tales for radio

Aim for ‘good old fashioned storytelling’ in the free-toenter

Poetic art for this prize

The David Burland Poetry Prize 2017 is open for entries.

Answer Questions’ call

Questions is a quarterly online Australian journal

FLASHES

Buses magazine covers the bus and coach industry. Editor

UK HISTORY MARKET

The way things were

Churchill’s wartime fantasy

In February Nature reported on the rediscovery of a

GLOBAL ONLINE MARKET

Breakfast beanfeast

First novel, second year running

Now in its second consecutive year, the First Novel

And another thing…

‘Ancestors, distant relatives and the past really were

FLASHES

Classic Bus bimonthly magazine welcomes illustrated

GLOBAL MAGAZINE MARKET

Attitude no problem here

Prize for Cheshire cats

The 2017 High Sheriff Cheshire Prize for Literature

Designing dystopias

Labello Press in Co Tipperary, Ireland is inviting

GLOBAL SF MARKET

Future nature

INTRODUCTIONS

Writing Magazine presents a selection of faith-based publications currently accepting contributions. We strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with their guidelines before submitting and check websites, where given, for submission details.

FLASHES

Monthly general interest magazine The Oldie, which

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Head for The Humber

Showcases and more for playwrights

Writers Avenue Theatre Company, based in London, has

Opportunity with Oracle

A new Canadian audio market needs SF/fantasy short

Lion Hudson shuts down

Lion Hudson, the Christian publisher based in Oxford

UK NON-FICTION MARKET

A rare buzz

Sussex poets, slip into this competition

Slipstream Poets invites entries for the Sussex Chactonbury

The best from the east

The longlist for the fifth biannual New Angle Prize

Submit your short form poems

Prolific Press publishes two magazines for short form

Global poetry market

Sharkpack is a paying poetry market. It needs submissions

FLASHES

Autocar editor Mark Tisshaw considers articles from

GLOBAL INSPIRATIONAL MARKET

Chicken Soup reheated

Shining a light on the dark

The 31st annual Bram Stoker Awards for superior achievement

New voices from Norfolk

Writers in Norfolk aged 11-18 years are invited to

GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET

New horizons for translated SF

INTERNATIONAL

ZINE SCENE

FLASHES

Journeys in Translation is looking for people to translate

GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET

Pen partners

History tales

The Katherine Swynford Society runs quarterly writing

A political prize

The Anthony Howard Award offers journalists under 27

Say hello to Lillicat

Lillicat Publishers is an author-friendly US small

UK ROMANCE MARKET

Hot, fast and fun

Reflective poetry prizes

Entries are invited for the 17th International Poetry

FLASHES

The Guildford Magazine is published twelve times a

GLOBAL REPRINT MARKET

Reapply with reprints

A Hull hurrah for new laureate

Hull, UK City of Culture 2017, will host the announcement

Book Talk

The figure often quoted is 180,000. That’s the number

UK MAGAZINE MARKET

A breath of fresh air

SF shortlists from both sides of the Pond

The shortlists for the 2016 British Science Fiction

GLOBAL SMALL PRESS MARKET

Take control and submit

Head to High Weald

High Weald Writing Retreats has teamed up with New

Be off with your travel writing

Author Christopher Allen, who runs the I Must Be Off

The Wolves’ call

A bimonthly magazine, Wolves has a content of fiction

Olga Sinclair invites stranger stories

Norwich Writers’ Circle is inviting entries for the